Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations modify the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 to provide the following:–
(a)section 4 is modified to allow the Scottish Legal Aid Board to pay into the Scottish Legal Aid Fund sums recovered from persons who have received financial or other assistance from a body of which they are a member, where they have also been in receipt of advice and assistance, civil legal aid or criminal legal aid under section 24 of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986; and
(b)section 15 is modified to implement Council Directive 2003/8/EC (O.J. No. L 26, 31.1.2003, p.41) as corrected by a corrigendum published on 7th February 2003 (O.J. No. L 32, 7.2.2003, p.15) which establishes common rules for legal aid in relation to cross border disputes. Section 15 is modified where it would otherwise be inconsistent with that Council Directive.